AI-assisted summary
• Half of the NFL’s stadiums use natural grass while the other half use synthetic turf, sparking an ongoing debate about player safety.
• Many NFL players prefer grass, believing it is less taxing on their bodies, but the league maintains data shows no significant difference in injury rates between surfaces.
• Several NFL stadiums with turf will install natural grass to host 2026 FIFA World Cup matches, as required by soccer’s governing body.
• The NFL and NFLPA are working to create consistent standards for all playing surfaces, with a new policy mandating new, approved fields by 2028.

It’s the NFL debate that never goes away.

Grass vs. turf? With the league adopting new playing field standards and seven of its 30 venues pulling up turf to install grass for 2026 World Cup matches, the NFL and its players are still working to find common ground between the end zones.

“Grass is the natural thing. Turf is the unnatural thing,” Dion Dawkins, the All-Pro left tackle for the Buffalo Bills, told USA TODAY Sports. “If you’re playing on grass, there’s a give. It’s a softer bottom. Like there’s dirt, there’s soil, there’s bugs. It’s just a real, live thing.

“Turf, you can scrape yourself and the turf burn is like rubbing your arm on sandpaper. Us big guys, we can plant in the turf to hold defenders back, but sometimes your feet get caught in a little seam. Grass doesn’t do that. Grass will rip up.”

Go ahead, preach this sermon. Exactly half of the NFL’s 30 venues have playing surfaces with all-natural or hybrid grass while the other half roll with synthetic turf.

“Grass is probably more expensive to maintain, which is why any businessman would say I’d rather have turf over grass,” Dawkins continued. “But for the longevity of a player that they may be investing $250 million in, and some of these guys are $500 million players … if it were me, I’d put my players on the best ground to keep your assets alive.”

The other side of the debate contends, turf burn or not, there’s essentially no difference in the injury rate between natural and synthetic surfaces.

Football is a violent, physical game, and injuries are inherent. Yet in considering non-contact, lower-extremity injuries, and concussions that can be linked to the playing surface, the league has for years maintained the data doesn’t show that grass is any safer than turf.

On Dec. 4, when the NFL revealed plans to institute standards for approving playing surfaces – a big step toward the stated goal for consistency – the league’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Allen Sills, doubled down on the turf-is-just-as-safe-as-grass theme.

“If you look at natural grass as one bucket, artificial fields as another bucket, we look at things like overall injuries, or ACL tears, or Achilles ruptures, or concussions,” Sills told reporters during a videoconference. “And if you look at that, you don’t really see what I’d say are statistically significant differences.

“And that’s what we look at in medicine and biology … not just is there a raw difference, but is there something that is statistically meaningfully different? And we also look at it by stadium.”

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, whose team plays on “Soft Top Matrix Turf” at AT&T Stadium, firmly agrees with Sills’ conclusion about the injury data. Never mind the feedback from players – often anecdotal but seemingly widespread – who prefer playing on grass largely because it is less taxing on their bodies.

NFL stadiums to switch to grass for 2026 World Cup games

Jones, like other NFL powerbrokers, will switch out the artificial turf for natural grass when AT&T Stadium hosts 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer matches next summer. Add that to the debate.

What’s the rationale for not having grass for Cowboys games, too?

“There’s no difference for safety,” Jones told USA TODAY Sports. “No difference. I put grass in here for the soccer, because that’s the only way they’ll play the game. Not because I think that grass is a better surface.”

While NFL players may overwhelmingly prefer grass, it has never been an issue prominent enough for the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) to take to the negotiating table during labor talks. Sure, there have been bigger issues such as the percentage of revenue that determines a salary cap that has grown to a record $279.2 million per team in 2025, while league revenues have soared in the neighborhood of $25 billion.

Nearly a decade-and-a-half ago, after a lockout in 2011, the NFLPA negotiated for more favorable work rules that essentially eliminated two-a-day practices during training camp and significantly reduced the amount of contact in practices throughout the year.

Yet unlike elite soccer players who refuse to play on anything other than natural grass – hence, seven of the 11 NFL venues that will host World Cup matches, will convert from turf to grass – NFL players have come nowhere near fighting league owners over their preference for grass.

Jones insists that cost isn’t an issue, although he acknowledges that artificial turf allows for much greater flexibility in staging events outside of football at his world-class stadium.

“No. No relationship to that,” Jones said, asked about cost, “or serious injuries, between turf and grass.”

Considering the stadiums that will install grass for the 2026 World Cup, the optics are a bad look for the NFL.

Just think: The World Cup final in July will be staged at an NFL venue, MetLife Stadium, that is notorious for the high-profile injuries that have occurred on its various forms of artificial turf. For the World Cup, though, turf will be out at MetLife, grass will be in.

What’s good for the soccer players should be good for NFL players.

“Not at all,” Jones disagreed. Of the soccer players, he added, “I don’t know if they’re doing it for safety or not.”

Indeed, there are so many variables for the debate. Smoothness and density of the grass surface, which facilitate the roll of the ball and reduce bounce, are key elements for soccer players.

“It’s got to be like a pool table, almost,” John Sorochan, the University of Tennessee professor and NFLPA consultant, told USA TODAY Sports of the expectations for the World Cup pitch.

Sorochan is a leading expert when it comes to turf and field management. He has worked with the NFLPA since 2010 and also consults with FIFA. Decades ago, in researching for the 1994 World Cup, the Michigan State alum spearheaded a major breakthrough by growing grass inside the Pontiac (Michigan) Silverdome.

Interestingly, he praised Jones for the grass installed at AT&T Stadium in 2024 for an international soccer friendly between the Mexico and Canada national teams. The grass was grown indoors for more than a year, with the sod tacked into Geotextile fabric, which covered a “plastic waffle system,” Sorochan described, that facilitated drainage.

“Both teams said it was one of the best surfaces they had ever played on,” Sorochan said. He added that high-tech testing, using a machine called the Flex, confirmed the surface had natural reaction – including the energy flow between players and the surface – similar to that at NFL grass fields such as Arrowhead Stadium and Lincoln Financial Field.

And the grass pitch was strong enough to play rugby (or maybe use the Push Tush) on it.

“There’s nothing more strenuous than a rugby scrum that would make it buckle or rip up,” Sorochan said. “That surface would have held up to that easily. So, you could, in theory, play an NFL game on that, in my opinion.”

Undoubtedly, that surface will be in play when AT&T Stadium hosts nine World Cup matches, including a knockout round semifinal.

“What Jerry Jones has done, he brought grow lights … they’ve got the whole field covered with LED lights growing the grass,” Sorochan said, envisioning the process that will be used after the grass field is transported from a sod farm and installed in the stadium. “So, you can do it.”

Of the NFL’s domed stadiums, there are two – Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders; and State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals – that utilize natural grass. In both cases, the stadium designs account for the grass fields to be grown outside the stadium on huge trays, then moved inside for the games.  

Yet the debate runs much wider than the viability of growing and/or maintaining grass for use indoors.

Seeking consistency, NFL will raise field standards with new policy

Nick Pappas, the NFL’s field director who oversees the operations, maintenance, research and compliance matters for all of the league’s venues, underscores a bottom-line challenge tied to the grass versus turf conundrum.

“We’ve got essentially 30 different surfaces out there,” Pappas told reporters during the Dec. 4 videoconference. “While 15 may be synthetic turf today, and 15 may be natural grass, the reality is that those 15 natural grass fields vary location to location. They vary throughout the season, and sometimes they vary from one side of the field to the other.”

Pappas went on to mention variables that include artificial turf fields that differ by manufacturer, style and age, and for all surfaces, the differences in climates and types of stadiums, including retractable roof and strictly outdoor venues.

“That makes it really challenging to just say it’s a one-size-fits-all approach, for both natural or synthetic,” Pappas said.

Grass or turf? ‘You can’t get apple juice out of oranges’

That surface variability and its interaction with players and their gear, the NFL’s Sills argues, is more important for the league to address from a player safety standpoint than a field’s natural or synthetic origin.

“I almost think it’s the wrong question to ask … and I don’t mean that flippantly,” Sills said. “What we need to do from a science, medicine, biology standpoint, we’ve got to go back to those parameters that we can now measure.”

Sills pointed to advanced tools that provide more data on traction, hardness and other biophysical properties of surfaces, allowing better understanding of the correlation to injuries.

“The surface is only one driver of these lower-extremity injuries,” he added. “There are a lot of other factors, including player load, previous history, fatigue, positional adaptability, and cleats that are worn. So, the surfaces are a component, but it is a complex equation.”

Sills and other league officials maintain that the primary goal, in conjunction with the NFLPA, is to improve consistency. That’s the thinking behind the upcoming standards that will govern NFL playing fields, with the model resembling the overhaul in recent years that analyzed NFL helmets and banned head gear deemed as less safe. The policy will essentially mandate that each NFL venue will have a new surface by 2028, with teams mandated to choose from a menu of approved fields.

While the policy applies to grass surfaces, too, it might fuel suspicion that the league wants to swing sentiment that favors the use of artificial turf fields. Remember, despite the involvement of league and union officials on a joint surfaces committee, the NFL is adamant in expressing that data shows no significant injury risk from playing on turf while the NFLPA routinely raises questions to the contrary.

“While our player members have been clear about their overwhelming preference for high-quality, grass surfaces, we’re encouraged that their demands for more consistent and safer fields across the board are taking a step in the right direction,” the NFLPA said in a statement provided to USA TODAY Sports. “We look forward to continuing this work with the NFL on behalf of our player members.”

Sorochan, a member of the NFL-NFLPA joint committee, said that much of the committee’s research has focused on artificial turf with an aim to improve safety. He said the decision to remove the turf at MetLife Stadium that used Slit Film fibers, replacing it with a surface made Monofilament fibers, represented progress.

“Low-hanging fruit to hopefully improve things,” he said.

Yet he also expressed pessimism when considering that none of the synthetic surfaces have resulted in reduced injury rates since the NFL and NFLPA began monitoring non-contact, lower-extremity injuries in 2012.

“I’ve been doing research on it since 2010, and we can’t get it to play like grass,” Sorochan said. “It’s not grass. You can’t get apple juice out of oranges. They’re two completely different systems. And while we can try to get them better, it’s not natural grass.”

What happened in Pittsburgh?

Of course, natural grass can have its own issues. While the gold standard may be the hybrid bluegrass, known as SISGrass, used at Lambeau Field – heated by 14 miles of glycol tubing underneath the surface and boosted by grow lights used above the field – a situation at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh in Week 6 cast light on inconsistencies.

The field was a mess when the Steelers hosted the Cleveland Browns a day after the University of Pittsburgh trounced Boston College in October. It was the most egregious issue involving a field surface thus far in the NFL season, and underscored twists that can arise in sharing a venue (in addition to Pitt games, Acrisure Stadium was also the site in recent weeks for multiple high school playoff games).

The Steelers already had planned for a typical full-field re-sodding in October. Yet before playing on a shoddy field, apparently stuck to the original replacement timeline.

Sorochan wasn’t on site in Pittsburgh, but contended that the field experts on hand for the team didn’t have the power to dictate an earlier re-sodding. He said the field passed the inspection that measured hardness, but the problems stemmed from a lack of traction and softness in spots. Standards for traction apparently are expected to be included in NFL surface protocols next year.

“Sometimes, things fall through the cracks,” Sorochan said. “They didn’t expect that field to perform as badly as it did. Moving forward I think they would probably say, ‘Let’s replace it before this.’ (But) the person who is leading the grounds crew and is on it every day should be empowered to make that decision.”

He maintained that with some teams, and as an example he named Tony Leonard, the Philadelphia Eagles vice president for grounds, it would have been handled differently.  “Tony would say it,” Sorochan said, “and it would happen.”

Nonetheless, the surface at Acrisure Stadium appeared to be in pristine condition when the Steelers hosted the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 30 – a day after Pitt was trounced there by Miami (Fla). The sod was replaced twice in November, between the numbers earlier in the month and then a full-field re-sod on Nov. 23.

NFL players’ grass preference is widespread, not universal

Still, even with challenges that can come with weather, usage and other variables, you won’t find many players who’d rather play on artificial surfaces. Of course, there are nuances with that.

New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis, a 14th-year NFL veteran, isn’t so passionate about the need to play all of the games on natural grass.

Asked about the impact on his body after playing a game on turf, when compared to grass, he told USA TODAY Sports: “I play linebacker, man. I feel a lot more of the hits than I do what surface I was running on.”

Still, Davis, who serves as his team’s NFLPA representative, said the bigger concern is what happens when fields – natural grass or artificial turf – are found to be in faulty condition.

“How can we make sure we get those changed immediately?” said Davis, whose home games at the Mecedes-Benz Superdome are played on a synthetic surface identified as Turf Nation-M6. “But as far as the whole league being grass or the whole league being turf, I don’t have a preference. Just as long as we play in safe environments.”

One thing for sure. The debate will rage on.

“I’m a big fan of grass,” Indianapolis Colts receiver Michael Pittman told USA TODAY Sports. “I just think when you look at FIFA and how when these teams come over here, they put grass over turf, maybe we can do the same thing in the NFL.”

Then again, it may not happen in the NFL until – or unless – the debate becomes important enough for players to make it an essential demand in labor negotiations.

Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on  X: @JarrettBell

Amdist a rather underwhelming season for the Milwaukee Bucks, rumors speculating that two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo could be traded have shrouded over their campaign.

With the trade deadline less than a month away, the haunting idea has terrified fans in Wisconsin for some time. However, the ‘Greek Freak’ insists that not only has he never requested a trade, but that he would never do so.

Following the Bucks’ loss to the Golden State Warriors on Jan. 7, Antetokounmpo told The Athletic ‘There will never be a chance, and there will never be a moment that I will come out and say, ‘I want a trade.’

‘My plan is to be here for the rest of my career,’ he reiterated. However, he did not entirely dismiss the possibility of playing elsewhere. He continued, ‘If they don’t want me…I’m not the one in charge.’

Was Antetokounmpo ever considered a trade target?

While many teams likely called the Bucks inquiring about their star forward amidst their poor season, the Bucks have said they have never considered trading Antetokounmpo and were instead insistent on trying to build around him as they’ve done in years past.

That said, reports prior to the start of the season claimed that the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks discussed a potential trade for Antetokounmpo, with New York emerging as Antetokounmpo’s preferred destination.

Giannis admitted that he would have liked going to New York, but later claimed that he’d changed his mind before the start of the 2025-26 season.

What does Antetokounmpo’s contract look like?

Antetokounmpo is in the middle of a three-year, $175 million contract that runs through the end of the 2027-28 season. However, there is an opt-out clause in his contract following the 2027 campaign. Furthermore, Antetokounmpo, 31, is eligible for a four-year, $275 million contract on Oct. 1, 2026, meaning he could be a prime sign-and-trade candidate once the upcoming offseason rolls around if any team wanted to secure him long-term.

What else did Antetokounmpo say about the trade deadline?

Antetokounmpo reiterated that he is ‘one million percent committed to [his] teammates, to [his] craft, and to [Milwaukee].’ He continued, ‘I look only to the next game, which is the Lakers, and I want to win the game. I want us to stack wins before the All-Star Game to get ourselves back to the race. We’re what, 11th now? This is not who we are, you know? So that’s the only thing in my mindset.’

ST. LOUIS — There’s a lot of things that can go wrong in figure skating. But what happens when it’s not your fault?

That’s what happened to the ice dance pair of Raffaella Koncius and Alexey Shchepetov, who weathered a music blunder that stopped them midway through of their rhythm dance at the 2026 U.S. figure skating championships on Thursday. 

About two minutes into their program, there seemed to be an odd transition of their music — a Ricky Martin song — inside the Enterprise Center. Koncius and Shchepetov noticed the difference immediately.

“We just were doing our thing, and then I think we just heard some extra music started playing,” Shchepetov told reporters. “We figured we would just keep going, and hopefully they would just fade out the other music, but it just kept going and going. So then they just called us to stop it.”

Koncius added that by the time the stoppage occurred, they “couldn’t even hear our music anymore.”

The pair skated over to the judges table to work out the confusion, which resulted in about a five-minute delay. The music started once again, but not at the correct part of the program, so the pair spoke with the judges again. 

The crowd was cheering on Koncius and Shchepetov, something they said really helped them during an odd time. Shchepetov said the music mix-up happened just as they were about to do their midline step sequence, so the officials gave them the opportunity to complete it entirely, giving them about a 15-second leeway. 

It’s not necessarily a situation skaters think about when they’re competing, but Koncius and Shchepetov felt a little prepared for the scenario of having to suddenly stop and pick right back up in the middle of a performance.

“When we train, we do a lot of where we kind of train similarly, like that,” Shchepetov said. “Like not with the music cutting off and whatnot, but we’ll train like one section, you rest while the music plays, and then you just pick it up for our next section.”

“We train these sections all the time so we know how to pick it up when something like this happens,” Koncius added.

The pair were able to resume their program without another issue, finishing with a score 65.15.

Even though it may have been a little chaotic, Koncius and Shchepetov were all smiles about the entire situation.

“Made for a great experience, truly,” Koncius said. “And a good story, too.”

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is the subject of domestic violence allegations leveled by his former girlfriend and the mother of their two children.

In an Instagram post on Jan. 7, Rice’s ex-girlfriend posted photos of herself with a bloody lip, as well as several scratches and bruises. Although she didn’t name Rice directly, she alleges she has been the subject of physical and mental abuse for several years.

‘It’s been nothing but hell,’ she wrote, adding, ‘I’ve protected his image too long and I’m done doing that. It’s time to protect my peace, protect my children and stand up for myself.’

What are the allegations against Rashee Rice?

In an Instagram post containing several graphic photos, Rice’s former girlfriend made references to physical violence against her and her home, destruction of property and infidelity. No associated police reports had been filed in Overland Park, Kansas, where Jones alleges the abuse occurred, per reports.

What has the NFL said about the Rashee Rice situation?

The NFL, in a statement to USA TODAY Sports, said on Jan. 8 that it has been in contact with the Chiefs, and the allegations against Rice ‘will be reviewed under the league’s personal conduct policy.’

What did the Chiefs say about the Rashee Rice situation?

The Chiefs released a statement on Jan. 7, but did not specifically mention Rice.

‘The club is aware of the allegations on social media and is in communication with the National Football League,’ the statement said. ‘We have no further comment at this time.’

What did the NFLPA players union say about the Rashee Rice Situation.

NFLPA spokesman Brandon Parker told USA TODAY Sports: ‘The NFLPA is aware of the allegations and we have no further comment at this time.’

Rashee Rice’s past legal issues

Rice was suspended for the first six games of the 2025 NFL regular season for his involvement in a high-speed car crash in March 2024.

He pleaded guilty July 17, 2025, to two third-degree felony charges: collision involving serious bodily injury, and racing on a highway causing bodily injury. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation.

He has not been charged in connection with the woman’s allegations.

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text ‘START’ to 88788.

USA TODAY reporter Danielle Lerner contributed.

AI-assisted summary
• Chloe Kim dislocated her shoulder for the second time in a month while training in Switzerland.
• The injury occurred less than a month before the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
• Despite the setback, Kim remains optimistic about her recovery and snowboarding performance.

ASPEN, CO — For the second time in a month, Chloe Kim has dislocated her shoulder. 

And with less than a month before the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, the timing could not be any worse. 

Kim posted a video Thursday on Instagram to announce the news, saying the injury occurred following the “silliest fall” during her second day of training before a pre-Olympic tune-up competition in Laax, Switzerland. She’s scheduled to undergo an MRI exam on Friday, she said. 

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Kim previously dislocated her shoulder during a World Cup event in Copper Mountain, Colorado, in December. 

“I have gone through so many waves of emotions I literally have a migraine,” she wrote in the Instagram caption. “The only thing I can do is rest/do everything in my power to come back as soon as possible.” 

 Kim also included footage of the fall. In the video, Kim said that she is not in much pain and still has range to move her arm. 

“Obviously don’t want it to keep popping out, which has happened,” she said. “So yeah, trying to stay really optimistic, but I feel really good about where my snowboarding is at right now.

“The minute I’m cleared and good to go, it should be fine.”  

Kim has long-clinched her spot in the Olympics based on the strength of her 2024-25 season. But any designs of a third straight halfpipe gold medal will deeply depend on her recovery before the women’s qualification on Feb. 11 in Livigno, Italy. 

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There are 13 games remaining in the 2025 NFL season, six of them set to be played this weekend in what projects to be a postseason as wide open as any in recent memory.

It will begin Saturday, when the sub-.500 Carolina Panthers host − that ain’t right − the Los Angeles Rams, followed by the Green Bay Packers visiting the Chicago Bears in what will be only the third postseason meeting in a rivalry that’s run for more than 100 years.

Sunday, the Buffalo Bills will try to win their first road playoff game in more than three decades against the Jaguars in Jacksonville. The Philadelphia Eagles then begin their title defense in earnest at home against the San Francisco 49ers. The Los Angeles Chargers and New England Patriots will face off Sunday night.

The wild-card round wraps Monday night in Pittsburgh, where Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers could potentially play his final game against the Houston Texans.

How do USA TODAY Sports’ panel of NFL experts foresee the postseason openers shaking out? And, as a bonus, which teams do they think will reach and, ultimately, win Super Bowl 60? Scroll on:

(Odds provided by BetMGM)

Wild-card round picks, predictions, odds

• Rams at Panthers
• Packers at Bears
• Bills at Jaguars
• 49ers at Eagles
• Chargers at Patriots
• Texans at Steelers

The Miami Dolphins’ decision to fire head coach Mike McDaniel has opened a major opportunity for teams with struggling offenses across the NFL.

McDaniel, a member of San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s coaching tree, is a coach whom experts widely consider to be one of the best offensive minds in the league. While some teams may be interested in hiring McDaniel to fill their head coaching vacancies, many others will be weighing the former Dolphins head coach as an option to take over as offensive coordinator.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell pointed out on social media that many of the players on offense on McDaniel’s Dolphins rosters had better seasons with McDaniel than with past head coaches or teams.

Specifically, wide receiver Tyreek Hill – who was already a top receiving option with the Chiefs – surpassed 1,700 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons in Miami. Running back Raheem Mostert had the first 1,000-yard season of his career while leading the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 2023, his ninth season in the league.

As teams look to bolster their coaching staffs ahead of the 2026 season, McDaniel will be a hot name to watch. Here are six landing spots for the Dolphins’ former head coach:

Mike McDaniel landing spots

Washington Commanders

In 2013, Washington’s football team had Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, Mike McDaniel and Raheem Morris on its coaching staff. All five ended up with head coaching gigs elsewhere, but the 2026 Commanders can take a step toward rectifying the error in letting all of those coaches go by bringing back McDaniel.

Washington just parted ways with both coordinators after a 5-12 season, leaving defensive-minded head coach Dan Quinn and quarterback Jayden Daniels in need of a new offensive guru to run things on that side of the ball. After finishing the 2024 season with a top-five scoring offense, the Commanders took a major step back in 2025, finishing with a bottom-11 unit in scoring. A big part of that can be chalked up to injuries, but bringing in McDaniel to rework the Daniels-led offense would give Washington a good shot at reclaiming the magic that got them to an NFC championship last year.

Detroit Lions

Detroit’s 2025 season was plagued by inconsistency and ultimately ended in a last-place finish in the NFC North despite a winning record. In Week 10 of the season, head coach Dan Campbell took over offensive play-calling duties from former offensive coordinator John Morton, whom the team fired after Week 18.

A year after Ben Johnson’s departure to become head coach of the Bears, the Lions dropped from the top scoring offense in the NFL to fifth – from averaging 33.2 points per game to 28.3 points per game. Hiring McDaniel could revitalize an offense that already has its key players in place: quarterback Jared Goff, receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jamerson Williams, running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery and tight end Sam LaPorta.

Kansas City Chiefs

The next two teams do not currently have openings at offensive coordinator, but there’s reason to believe they may have one soon. Current Chiefs OC Matt Nagy spent a few years as the Bears’ head coach and has been targeted by several teams looking to fill their head coaching opening during this cycle. If Nagy leaves Kansas City, the Chiefs would need to fill his vacated position.

Though McDaniel wouldn’t handle play-calling duties under head coach Andy Reid, he would be in charge of implementing a new offense for the Chiefs. As quarterback Patrick Mahomes returns from his ACL injury and Kansas City spends the offseason retooling after a disappointing 2026, McDaniel could be the perfect candidate to right the ship for the offense.

McDaniel proved in Miami that he’s good at building an offense to maximize his players’ strengths and mitigate weaknesses. That could make him a perfect fit for a team lacking dynamic playmakers outside of their quarterback.

Philadelphia Eagles

Similar to the Chiefs, the Eagles don’t have an open spot at offensive coordinator, but that could change if Philadelphia falls short of a Super Bowl win. Current offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who took over the job this year following Kellen Moore’s departure, has struggled to bring out the same results as his predecessor.

The Eagles’ offense averaged 27.2 points per game last year, making them the seventh-best unit in the league in the category. This year, Philadelphia averaged 22.3 points per game on offense, a bottom-14 mark in the NFL despite a roster that was largely the same as 2024’s squad.

By building a successful offense around a limited quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa in Miami, McDaniel proved he’d be a strong fit to replace Patullo – if it comes to that. Quarterback Jalen Hurts has similar limitations, but the star-studded cast of playmakers around him is comparable to – if not better than – what McDaniel had to work with in Miami.

Atlanta Falcons (HC or OC)

The Falcons are one of the teams searching for a head coach in this cycle, and McDaniel – who was an offensive assistant for the team in 2015 and its NFC title run in 2016 – could be the right fit for their roster as either a head coach or offensive coordinator.

One of McDaniel’s biggest strengths with the Dolphins was building a strong run game. He did it with Raheem Mostert in his first couple of years, then De’Von Achane over the last two seasons. The Falcons have one of the best running backs in the NFL in Bijan Robinson already in the building, and Atlanta could get the chance to boost his ceiling further with an offensive mind like McDaniel’s.

In addition, the Falcons already have a strong framework for an offense. Outside of Robinson, wide receiver Drake London is a bona fide No. 1 receiver, and tight end Kyle Pitts showed real promise in the back half of the regular season. If Atlanta has faith that McDaniel can help develop young quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in an offense with those pieces in place, he would be a strong fit to run the Falcons’ offense in either capacity.

Cleveland Browns (as HC)

Multiple outlets have already reported the Browns’ interest in McDaniel filling their head coach vacancy. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said before the new year that Cleveland had their eye on McDaniel if it fired Stefanski and the Dolphins fired their head coach. Now that both things have happened, Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot has reported that the Browns are interested in hiring McDaniel to be their head coach.

The former Dolphins head coach has a history in Cleveland, having served as the Browns’ wide receivers coach in 2014. McDaniel is an intriguing fit for the Browns as an offensive mind who could arrive to help develop young quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, both of whom landed in Cleveland via the 2025 NFL Draft. The Browns could use an extra boost on the offensive side of the ball as well after finishing 2025 with a bottom-two scoring offense while their defense finished in the top half of the NFL in preventing opponents from scoring.